Hope and help would be in short supply for Haitian families toiling in sweat shops and facing wage theft and prison-like conditions. Thomas C. Adams, Hillary Clinton's point man, blamed Haitians for the lack of progress in rebuilding and specifically touted the "new economic hub in Haiti's north" (Caracol) as a "catalyst for economic growth."
The economic growth is probably real, for Target and Walmart. The majority of Haitian garment workers were being denied nearly a third of their wages due to income theft. WRC's report demonstrated that a "similarly egregious level of wage theft was occurring at the Caracol Industrial Park," subsidized by the U.S. State Department and the Inter American Development Bank.
At Caracol, workers were paid 34 percent less than the law required, while enduring a work-week of 52.3 hours. Wages averaged 33 percent below the legal minimum. Sae-A violated Haiti's minimum wage law by setting production quotas at levels that made it impossible to earn the minimum wage in an eight hour workday. Production bonuses are rare and seldom reach the sub-minimum wage earned by trainees. Production quotas are manipulated by either setting the daily quota so high that it is unreachable, or by setting the amount of bonuses so low that that they amount to almost zero.
For example, in 2013 the Workers Rights Consortium interviewed sewing machine operators at Caracol. A team of 35 was expected to turn out 1,700 t-shirts in a single day for a production bonus of $0.46. If the team completed 100 more t-shirts they were paid an additional $0.23 PER DAY.
The workers said they could not regularly meet the 1,700 daily quota. Sometimes they had to meet the production quota for three days in a row to receive the bonus.
The result was that many workers were forced to work overtime, and if they chose not to, were told by security guards to get back to work. Quotas had to met.
A Tale As Old As Time
Haiti and Hispaniola have been under occupation for their riches ever since Columbus. The challenge and opportunity for VCS Mining, as described in its confidential memorandum to investors, "is to allow the world to see the "jewel of an isle" this country can be. Gold was what drove explorers to risk life and limb while exploiting Hispaniola--and gold is what attracts enterprising adventurers today."
It is almost impossible not to get lost in the weeds of International Aid to Haiti. What is aid and what is pay-for-play when it comes to the Clinton Foundation? What is hidden probably dwarfs the known contributions from mining executives, clothing magnates, and sweat-shop owners in Saipan.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere for a reason, and that reason continues to be American and foreign domination over the former slave colony. For hundreds of years Haiti has never really been able to shake the shackles of outside lust for what Haiti has to offer--and it appears that for the price of admission to the murky world of pay-for-play, Haitian lives really do not matter that much to Bill and Hillary Clinton.
As the former OAS Ambassador to Haiti, Ricardo Seitenfus, wrote in an email: "Le temps qui passe est le Seigneur de l'Histoire. J'espà ¨re qu'il le sera egalement, dans ce cas, celui de la Justice".
The passage of time is indeed the Lord of history. Let's hope for Justice.
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